Apparently the right has had enough of being shut down by violence, shouting and vandalism. This is from a site called alternet.org, and describes how the devilishly powerful right-wing Goldwater Institute is hoping to pass legislation which ensures that the First Amendment rights of speakers should be protected.

Those b@stards!!!!

As far-right speakers face loud student opposition at their university speaking gigs, conservative lawmakers in several states are introducing legislation that cracks down on protesters. As uncovered by UnKoch My Campus’ Ralph Wilson, numerous states have borrowed their so-called “campus free speech” bills from the rightwing Goldwater Institute, which is funded by conservative plutocrats including Charles Koch and the Mercer family.

You can just tell they really hate conservative plutocrats!

The intent of these bills isn’t to protect student speech; it’s actually to suppress it in favor of guest speakers who, at times, support white nationalism, LGBTQ discrimination and other hateful worldviews. By funding the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute, wealthy conservatives are enabling the promotion of hate speech while stifling student dissent. Whether or not Koch, for example, agrees with the hate speech he indirectly sponsors, he certainly benefits from a more friendly academic environment for far-right ideologues who often deny climate change and praise his extreme brand of tax- and regulation-free capitalism.

Please, tell me again how much you love freedom?

Picture source. Berkeley Riots to deny the First Amendment Rights of Conservatives

The Goldwater Institute’s model bill allegedly ensures “the fullest degree of…free expression,” but it explicitly states that “protests and demonstrations that infringe upon the rights of others to engage in or listen to expressive activity shall not be permitted and shall be subject to sanction.”

I’m again going into slow-type mode to make the point to leftists. If we value freedom of speech, we value it for those who say things which are wrong. Stupid things. Incorrect things. Conservative plutocraty things!

If you shut down a legal demonstration with an illegal one, then you have become Bull Connor. If you burn police cars or outdoor lighting equipment so that a conservative cannot speak, you are the modern equivalent of the Klan, riding in white robes. The only difference is that you feel the right is “uppity.”

Just in case the nuance is lost on the left: No way will we allow free speech to be destroyed for your short term gain. You will lose this. You are on the wrong side of history.

One Response to Those “Uppity Conservatives”

Name one. If thinking that anyone who ignores our laws without invitation is white nationalism shouldn’t be allowed to stay is white nationalism, there are a surprising number of black white nationalists. Likewise, pointing out things that are verified true is not white nationalism, even if it makes some group look bad, even if that group is a race or religion.

As for lgbtq discrimination, though there is some, we mainly don’t want them to have abnormally high privilege, like telling us soviet style we have to make a cake or they’ll take our business away. Our take on the matter is quite different from actual socialists, whose power of violence against groups they didn’t need tended to beat lethal levels. Be it the Soviets, the Chinese, the Vietnamese, the NAZIs, or the beloved Che, all have put bullets in the heads of your groups. The descrimination from the actual liberals, which is the mainly the right and not you guys who usurped the name, has always been less than other groups. As a group, we take equal before the law seriously. Both for those who are less equal and those who are more, it is our intention to fix it. Not though law which forces it, but though changing ourselves slowly toward the ideal.

The only people capible of self improvement are those who believe that man can’t be perfect. People who believe in new man theories will generally see themselves as an early adopter. Generally these are some of the least perfect.